October 11, 2006
Local protests, hitchhiking, and collaborative letter-writing
Wondering what to do with your disquiet? Check out Protest.Net and see who's taking it to the streets in your area. Angry, but your town isn't listed? Don't worry, maybe you can find a ride on HitchHikers. Disgusted, but prefer a more decorous exchange? So do the folks at Progressive Secretary.
A Tale of Two Cubes
Both are open 24 hours a day, and serve as a "mecca" to their respective worshipers. One was ordained by Allah as a place of worship on Earth to reflect the house in Jannah called al-Baytu l-Maˤmur. The other was built by the house of Jobs to showcase Macs and iPods. Is Apple's Fifth Avenue Cube (QTVR) mocking the Kaaba? Some Islamic website thinks it's a new insult to Islam.
Hopefully he didn't commit anything to a journal
Linux filesystem developer Hans Reiser has been arrested on a charge of murder. Reiser and his company, Namesys, developed one of Linux's most popular filesystems, ReiserFS, and are currently working on the next generation, Reiser4. Reiser was interviewed by KernelTrap last year:
A willingness to believe that data indicates that one is wrong, and sometimes perhaps that everyone is wrong, is essential to a scientist. Boys think that being brilliant will make them a great scientist. Men know that, in the words of Sir Francis Bacon "men are imperfect mirrors of the creator". and that rigor, thoroughness, and a belief in data over consensus are what really matters. I am a blind man with a stick, and my contribution to society is that I ignorantly poke where none have poked before because I am more sure that I am such a fool I'd better check it than anyone else in my field. My only true insight into the field is knowing what a fool I am.Reiser has sometimes been known as abrasive and arrogant in development circles, but no body has been found. The future of Reiser's two children remains unclear. [more @ arstechnica]
Toxic Time Capsule
Interactive Toxic Town from Natl Library Medicine This NLM link shows relatively small everyday sources of toxics around town. Most worry over envirodisasters like Love Canal and Libby Montana but toxics in homes, schools, and small biz can add up to a bigger dose for most of us. The toxic town thread from June 2nd shows the incredible scale of industrial negligance at the nasty sites. Time capsules are neat when you stumble into something gramps left in the attic to remember his hey day. But hazwaste sites are time capsules of a different sort, left behind by industries escaping their environmental liabilities. These sites tell the story of utter disregard for the environment and community as hazwaste was poured down floor drains, dumped into soil and unlined lagoons, or directed into nearby streams. Most of us live far enough away from these chemical bullseyes to not be directly affected. But even more unbelieveably, sometimes the industry was able to pawn off its waste as "clean fill", getting rid of the stuff and spreading it all over town. Prime examples: Grand Junction CO and Stratford CT. But you don't need that for your street to harbor toxic waste - there are thousands of small waste sites in various stages of discovery or cleanup embedded in every state, rural/suburban/urban towns alike. Leaking tanks beneath gas pumps, dry cleaners, small industry, farms, nurseries,and even some homes can be toxics hot spots. Vermont's statewide hazwaste site list broken down by town is an example - it would be smart to find the list for your town.
McNopoly Winners?
Anyone ever win McDonalds Monopoly? Mmmm....
It's McDonald's Monopoly season again! Looking for Boardwalk? Good luck.
Where are the winners(pdf) now? Or is it all just a fraudulant scam?
Mmm... I'm scoffing it!
Comrade Borodin is a very cultured person
In 1974 Alexander Lipson wrote an excellent Russian language textbook: scanned highlights, complete book. However, its value goes beyond the merely pedagogical. via our very own metafilter udarnik languagehat.
Weeeee O
Did you bring bottles? They gave away dishes, encyclopedias, and Batman toys to get you in the store. Most have been replaced by mega-groceries, but David Gwynn remembers the grocery chain ^ down the block.
Jim Goad's 'Answer Me!' just rereleased in deluxe box set -
Answer Me! the first three, The Rape Issue, The Rape Board Game (includes Rape Dice), and Chocolate Impulse (Goad's hoax fanzine) Jim Goad has been called "The Most Dangerous Man in Publishing" by Penthouse magazine, as he's been writing some of America's most essential reading material in the past 10 years, including the rare white slavery document Redneck Manifesto and the powerful prison industry analysis of Shit Magnet. Answer Me! rereleased boxed set includes all the essential pieces for a collection that is worth getting for the investment value alone even if you arent a fan. Dig in !
Up to snuff?
Helping Smokers Quit: A Role for Smokeless Tobacco? 45 million Americans still smoke, and 438,000 die each year, despite a 40-year intense public health campaign. Apart from 'quit or die', the third neglected option is smokeless tobacco. The linked report by the American Council on Science and Health describes the products and examines the risks.
"Our national bird may still be admired by those who are not familiar with its habits."
"Our national bird may still be admired by those who are not familiar with its habits." Franklin knew knew most of this.
Bully on bully over Bully.
"Never in the history of gaming has a judge ever asked to review a game before its release — and that is going to happen here tomorrow.” Judge Friedman asks Take-Two to produce a final copy of Bully, while Wal-Mart is poised to release the game on Tuesday. Everyone's favorite game censor Jack Thompson (discussed here, and here) couldn't be happier, meanwhile those who've played it say it's without blood or gore and generally innocent.
To add more twists to this plot, the employee picked by Take-Two that will play almost 100 hours of the game for the judge might be unable to make the flight to Miami because of the earlier-mentioned crash of ahelicopter plane into a manhattan high-rise
To add more twists to this plot, the employee picked by Take-Two that will play almost 100 hours of the game for the judge might be unable to make the flight to Miami because of the earlier-mentioned crash of a
Iraqfilter, with midgets.
"Most Surreal Moment - Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact." A Marine's observations from Al Anbar province.
JM's World War One Sketchbook
This Is Not An REM Song
The Automat was a remarkable, culturally ubiquitous part of the history of both Philadelphia and New York City.
The basic concept wasn't unusual, but the Art Deco style was unique.
Now, BAMN! Food has revived the concept and the name.
Pat Riley Raps about Drugs
Three years prior to the Superbowl Shuffle, another group of eventual sporting champions gathered in a Los Angeles studio to bring a powerful anti-drug message to the children.
Wom! Wam! Thank You Ma'am!
!WOm!WAm! WOMEN Doing Things To Men! An insane but illuminating website of bizarrely "wholesome" fetishism depicting examples of women attacking men from 50s/60s popular culture. (slightly NSFW)
Put a little seratonin in me.
'I'm bringing Paxil back' [Quicktime]
Plane crashes into building in New York on 10/11
Creepy Jewelry
Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Brooch. These insects come in varied patterns and are decorated with the finest Austrian Swarovski crystal... All roaches are male to ensure sterility, and come complete with a leash set. People step on these things or feed them to other animals. We're giving them this really fabulous, beautiful life. Allegedly inspired by a joke. Product specimen shown in action here.
Woo ya vroom
And my beat goes boom... tschak!
WaxDJ.com - an excellent source for free downloads and streams of original electronic music mixes of all sorts, from seasoned pros to beginning bedroom amatuers, all told numbering in the hundreds or thousands. My current brand new favorite is the very diverse and well-versed Detriot/Chicago techno stylings of DJ Rubsilent. Recomended mix: Future Funk 23: (Direct MP3 link) (Streaming mp3 link) But don't let me divert you - search for your favorite local DJ or browse for new ones.
systematically eliminated or weakened rules designed to enforce the separation of church and state
the American God? The herders of this remote mountain village know little about America, but have learned from those who run a US-funded aid program about the American God. A Christian God. ...
The end of cursive?
The end of cursive? When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2006, just 15 percent of the almost 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive. The rest? They printed. Block letters. "Cursive -- that is so low on the priority list, we really could care less. We are much more concerned that these kids pass their SOLs [standardized tests]."
Estimating civilian casualties in Iraq
The invasion of Iraq may have caused 650,000 Iraqi deaths according to a study being published in the Lancet on Saturday. The work follows up a controversial late 2004 study by the same researchers that estimated "excess deaths" due to the conflict (at that time) to be 100,000. In response to criticism that the 2004 paper's margin of error was uselessly high (the 95% confidence interval was 8,000-194,000), the new results are based on a larger sample, yielding more reasonable range of 426,000-793,000. The paper is virtually guaranteed to reignite debate over the accuracy of the most widely cited source for Iraqi casualty information, the Iraq Body Count project (which currently gives a max of 48,893), and the media reports it relies on. The lead author, Les Roberts of John Hopkins, has said that the original study's publication was timed to influence the 2004 elections, and it would appear that this one is as well. [more inside]
« Previous day | Next day »